I Am Me

blind date (1)

There's a lot of people in here tonight, I really hope this place is as good as she said it was.

Glancing around the room I notice that the restaurant has gone to extraordinary lengths to make this place look as authentic  as possible. All the tables are made of polished wood with clean, white table cloths laid on top. In fact most of the restaurant is made of wood; the bench tops, the bar, chairs and stools. Personally I think it looks stunning.

Are you looking for someone, ma'am?" The waiter asks, politely, walking over to me with a small notebook in hand.

"Ah, yes actually... my date. He's wearing a carnation like mine," I say pointing to my blouse with a slightly shakey hand.

"Yes, right this way," He says with a snobish tone he didn't have before.

The waiter directs me to a table at the far end of the restaurant. Sitting in the booth is a young man with scruffy blond hair sticking out from underneath a maroon coloured beanie, making circles with his fingers on the table. He's cute, I think to myself, though he looks mis-matched in the room.

I give a small cough to get his attention. "Ah... I'm Taya," I say extending out my hand, "I'm so sorry that I'm late, I didn't plan to be, I actually left half an hour e-early you see.." Oh no, I'm getting nervous.

"Oh, hi Taya, I'm Charlie." He says shaking my hand.

"H-have you been here long?"

"...well yes actually. I've been sitting here for an hour. I was starting to think you weren't going to show up."

"I'm so, so, so sorry. I just... got caught up in my own thoughts. And then there was this guy at my window and, ah, some people are just so creepy, right?" He's going to think I'm such a dweeb.

"No, no really. It's fine. I'm surprised it wasn't the other way around, I'm always late to things," he says with a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth.

There was an awkward silence for a little while until he asked how I knew Sarah. "Sarah? Hah, of course. W-who else would you be talking about, she set this thing up after all..."

"Don't worry, I already know the answer, she's told me alot about you," he says, noticing my nervousness, "Did she tell you anything about me?"

"No, not much actually, she just said, 'I've got you a date, meet him here at this time, now go have fun'," I say trying to do my best impersonation of her. Face palm.

"Haha, well I'm her cousin."

"Cousin? Really? You don't look anything like her. She's usually very protective of her family. She doesn't even let me look at her brother."

"You know what? I think my grandma actually put her up to that. See, she has this thing where if you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend after the age of seventeen.. she thinks you're gay. So I wouldn't be surprised if she has something to do with this," he says with an adorable laugh.

"Seriously? That's so funny!" I hiccup. Oh no. This always happens. I may as well just leave now, he's not going to want to sit with a girl who can't contain herself.

"Water, here, have some water!" He says fumbling around with the water jug, spilling a little over the sides or the glass.

Hiccup.

"Quick, drink," He says passing me the glass. I drink it slowly, not wanting to look like a pig. "It doesn't work if you don't gulp it down." I do as he says. I close my eyes hoping it'll work.

Slowly I open one eye. With Charlie's face looking back at me in question, I give a sigh of relief.

Hiccup. Urgg. My face starts to burn up. Oh no, here it comes. Who knows why I do this, but I swear I wish I could push this trait of mine into a burning pit along with the hiccups, I hate it so much. None the less I do it anyway. Swiftly I raise my hand up to my cheek.

".. did you just.. try to wipe your blush off?" He asks, giving me a weird look.

"Ahh.. y-yeah. I-I did. D-doesn't everyo-one?"

"No.. I've never met someone who's ever done that before... it's quite... unique?"

"Look, can we just forget that ever happened?"

"Why? It didn't even work," He grins.

"What?!" I say, pressing my fingertips into my cheek. Charlie just cracks up laughing. 

"Ahem," The waiter coughs as he sets a plate of some fancy version of pasta on our table, "And I should hope that you won't eat this is the same manner that you have been acting. This is a very high class restaurant and I should hope that you two will not ruin it's reputation with your silly shenanigans." 

I feel as though someone has just pulled at my heart. I didn't even realize we were being such a disturbance. My palms start to get sweaty again and the pounding of my heart gets louder and louder. I can't believe I've let down this whole restaurant, I look down in shame.

When I finally look up again, I see Charlie's concerned face looking back at me, "Are you okay, Taya?"

"He was so disappointed in us," is the only thing that I could fathom in my mind to describe how bad I felt. 

Charlie's next comment confuses me, "So what? Who cares what he thinks." 

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Hey

Hoped you guys enjoyed that chapter. What did you think of Charlie? Comment, vote and fan if you like what you're reading. New update next week hopefully so keep tuned. Thanks for reading :D

Emily x